march: 6, 7, 8, & 9

my reading load for school this semester is lighter than it was in the fall (or i've hit my stride or something), and i was able to more reading this month than i've done in a while - hooray!

the light between oceans, by m.l. stedman (i am a casual member of goodreads, and this was a book they recommended.  a couple who can't have children find a baby in a lifeboat on the beach.  do they keep the baby, and if so: will anyone discover that the baby isn't their own?  a quick read and pretty entertaining!)

mr. penumbra's 24-hour bookstore, by robin sloan (i read this for the awesome book club that i'm in with some atlanta friends.  it's kind of a mystery that bridges the old world (books) and the new world (google) - an interesting premise and another quick and fun read.  i'm finding that's what i crave these days: fiction that is somewhat effortless and page-turning, but is well-written and has a solid plot.  i'd recommend this one, too!)

kindle singles: broken voices, nate in venice, and lincoln's little girl (you know of my love of kindle singles, short stories that you can buy for $0.99-$2.99 from amazon.com.  i am also a member of amazon prime, which gives you free 2 day shipping on almost everything on the site and the ability to "loan" some books for free.  so!  if you're interested in any of these short stories (click links to read about them), i can loan them to you for 2 weeks; recently i bought 7 or 8 of them and these are my 3 favorites.  you don't need a kindle - you can read on your phone or computer.)

maphead, by ken jennings (my favorite jeopardy champion's book about maps - i bought it for dad for christmas last year and had been meaning to read it once he finished it.  it's readable and very interesting - my favorite fact: we "orient" a map by turning it to match the direction we're traveling, but why is it called "orienting"?  apparently in medieval europe maps were printed with east at the top (not north, as they typically are now), and the east = the orient, hence "to orient."  i love fun facts like this!  i'd recommend this book; the chapters stand alone pretty well, so you can pick it up every now and then without having to remember what happened in previous chapters.)